Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians in series finale, 2-1: Game thread replay
Detroit Tigers (16-29) vs. Cleveland Guardians (19-23)
When: 1:40 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Comerica Park.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1) (Tigers radio affiliates).
Weather forecast: High-70s, clear.
Probable pitchers: Tigers RHP Elvin Rodriguez (0-0, 9.39 ERA) vs. Guardians RHP Triston McKenzie (3-3, 2.70 ERA).
Tigers lineup:
1. Robbie Grossman, DH
2. Jonathan Schoop, 2B
3. Harold Castro, 3B
4. Javier Báez, SS
5. Spencer Torkelson, 1B
6. Willi Castro, LF
7. Daz Cameron, RF
8. Eric Haase, C
9. Derek Hill, CF
SATURDAY'S GAME: Tigers silenced again by Guardians and Shane Bieber, 8-1
TODAY'S STARTER: Elvin Rodríguez, preparing for second MLB start, aims to 'open their eyes'
Game notes: Normally, we’d say, “Of all the Guardians pitchers to face, the Tigers really don’t want to face this one” about Triston McKenzie. But the Guardians also have Shane Bieber, who once again shut down Detroit on Saturday. But in the non-Bieber category of pitchers the Tigers flail against (more so than all the pitchers they’ve flailed against already this season while averaging 2.73 runs a game), McKenzie is definitely up there. In four career starts against the Tigers, the lanky righty has allowed two earned runs on 10 hits and seven walks with 29 strikeouts in 23 innings.
That includes his start Aug. 15 of last season in which he struck out 11 and held the Tigers hitless for 7⅔ innings. The lone Tiger to get a hit that day was Harold Castro; he’s 3-for-7 in his career against McKenzie, while the rest of the active Tigers are 6-for-40 (.150). Two of those six hits were homers, at least, with Willi Castro taking McKenzie deep in August 2020 and Tucker Barnhart doing so in April 2021.
The Tigers’ starter, Elvin Rodríguez, hasn’t been nearly as successful, with eight earned runs in 7⅔ innings. The good news for Rodríguez: Seven of those runs have come on two home runs, a three-run blast by the White Sox’s Andrew Vaughn in April and a grand slam Monday by the Twins’ Max Kepler.
Sunday’s game wraps up the abbreviated three-game series at Comerica Park. The Tigers start a five-games-in-four-days series against the Twins, who lead the American League Central, on Monday afternoon at Comerica Park, while the Guardians head home for a three-game set against the Royals, who are tied with the Tigers for the worst record in the Central and the entire AL.
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians, 2-1: Game thread replay
